


Repaying a Debt

by BarbwireRose



Series: Birthdays Done Right [3]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Loki doing some internal contemplation, M/M, as always this series is slightly au, mention of Loki faking his death, somewhat happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-06
Updated: 2014-07-06
Packaged: 2018-02-07 15:05:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1903530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BarbwireRose/pseuds/BarbwireRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve receives an unexpected visitor on his birthday in the form Loki, who comes bearing a familiar gift.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Repaying a Debt

**Author's Note:**

> This is a follow-up to [Party For Two](http://archiveofourown.org/works/396823). I figured that since I already had Steve help Loki celebrate his birthday twice, it was high time for Loki to return the favor. Since this story has been collecting dust for a little over a year now, the bit about Loki faking his death isn't really in reference to Thor 2; it's just Loki being a little shit. Also, I know this is a day late for Steve's birthday but better late than never, right?

It was the little things in life that truly made the most impact, Loki decided, as he lowered his guarded eyes to contemplate the apple in his hand. Before he’d met Steve Rogers, the ruby-skinned fruit would have held no special meaning for him, for the apples of this realm possessed no magical properties and were in fact quite commonplace. There was nothing all that spectacular about the taste of Midgardian apples either, what with the sweetness of the reds and the tartness of the greens not being all that different from Idunn’s golden apples. Even when combined with a candied shell and sprinkled with pieces of chopped nuts, an apple was still just an apple, nothing to warrant the shift Loki could feel taking place within his chest.

“Such a trivial thing,” he whispered, turning the apple around in his hand so that the lights from the sky gleamed across its crimson surface.

Never in his most creative of dreams had Loki imagined that something as insignificant as an apple could have a lasting effect on him, but he supposed that the act of taking a seemingly ordinary object and turning it into something of great meaning was just Steve Rogers’s way.

Loki was abruptly pulled from his trance after a particularly loud bang sounded overhead, and he was once again reminded of the significance of the day. The lightshow currently taking place over the harbor was part of a celebration, something to do with declaring independence from an oppressive power. Steve had explained it to him once, on a day that seemed so long ago now, but Loki had shoved the information to the recesses of his mind.

Not that it mattered much really, Loki reflected with a sly smile, for this so-called celebration wasn’t what made this day unlike any other. No, today was important for a very, very different reason, for today was the day that he paid his debt to one Steve Rogers.

Ψ

Despite the numerous drawbacks of having his birthday fall on the Fourth of July, namely Tony’s unrelenting teasing about the irony of it all, Steve had to admit that there were some pleasant perks, like watching huge firework spectaculars and pretending that they were just for him. Regardless of the changes he’d undergone since he was a kid, there were some things that stayed the same, and Steve liked to think that he would never cease to be amazed at the spectacle that lit up the sky over New York Harbor on this day, even if he lived to be two hundred.

It would’ve been nice to have someone to share the view with, but he wasn’t about to begrudge his teammates for having made their own plans for the evening. Still…a sight like this should be enjoyed with some company, Steve admitted to himself, and it was as if his unspoken thoughts had somehow manage to conjure up the one person who had been on his mind the most as of late as he felt an unnaturally cool breeze blow across the balcony of the Avengers Tower.

“Now’s not a good time, Loki,” Steve stated firmly, and now he could see an elongated shadow detaching itself from the wall out of his peripheral vision.

“Do you wish for me to leave?”

The word yes was right on the tip of his tongue, but what finally came out of his mouth was, “You shouldn’t be here.”

“That was not what I asked, Captain Rogers.”

Loki’s silken voice splintered across Steve’s thoughts like a finely woven web of ice with just a hint of steel underneath, and suddenly the tether he had on his patience felt ready to snap with just a look from Loki’s unfathomable eyes. Never before had words seemed so hard to find, and the silence stretched between them for ages before Steve finally managed to dredge up a response.

“I thought you were dead. Hell, we all thought you were dead,” he whispered hoarsely, jaw tensed to the point of pain as fireworks illuminated the unshed tears that were glistening in his eyes. “How you could do that? You made everyone believe you were dead, and then you waltzed back into our lives like you’d done nothing wrong.”

Loki’s lips twitched into the beginnings of a smile, because despite the obvious hostility Steve was displaying, the man hadn’t asked him to leave, which was fortunate. “I do not expect you to understand why I–”

“Why are you here?”

Well, that didn’t take long, Loki remarked internally, his hand clenching around the object he kept hidden behind his back. “I am here because I owe you a debt, Captain, and I think it time that I finally pay it,” Loki said in a slightly subdued tone, before offering up the box he held.

Steve accepted the offering with a puzzled frown and was about to tell Loki that he had no idea what the god was on about, couldn’t recall a situation where Loki would’ve wound up in his debt, but one look inside the box had him choking on his words. There all nestled inside on a piece of what looked like silk was a good-sized candied apple covered in blue and white sprinkles.

“Tis a sad thing to spend one’s birthday alone,” Loki remarked under his breath, his gaze purposefully lingering on the revealed apple. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that this small gesture said everything that Loki himself could not put into words.

When the god made to leave, Steve caught one of Loki’s hands with his free one and gave it a meaningful squeeze, whispering, “Wait,” into the now-quiet air.

The notion that Loki considered Steve’s past attempts at making the god’s birthday an event to remember fondly as ‘a debt to be paid’ sat like a stone in his gut, but then again everything was a bit backwards when it came to Loki. Steve held no illusions about this one act of kindness making up for all the pain Loki had caused; however, the fact that Loki was still gripping his hand long after the fireworks had ended and the city had resumed its nightly routine gave Steve hope. All was not entirely lost, at least not yet.

Loki never imagined that a seemingly unimportant thing like a candied apple could say so much, never dreamed that by giving one as a gift he would simultaneously be opening himself up to perhaps the greatest vulnerability, but it was the little things that spoke volumes whenever it came to Steve Rogers. Perhaps one day he would present the Captain with a specially made candied apple taken straight from Idunn’s orchard, but in the meantime he was content to remain where he was, hair billowing in the gentle breeze as he watched Steve polish off his present with the blond magnanimously offering him bites every so often until there was nothing left.

**Author's Note:**

> Oh god, I really hope this wasn't complete rubbish to read. *runs and hides*


End file.
